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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Just Letting You Know...

I'll be offline for the rest of this week and possibly a couple of days next week. I'm going to have a tooth extracted today and my husband will be using my truck for work. Even if I wanted to get into town this week, no dice. Not a big deal, I need this extraction.

Then next week I will be getting another extraction. Yep, two in one shot. Sort of. Oh well. Has to be done. I had to stop drinking soda. Good thing came out of it, I lost weight. But, my teeth were already having problems. Dentist always told me to quit, but did I listen? Noooooo.

I never listen. Sometimes it takes the Sledgehammer of Subtlety for this girl. Karma can't just slap me on the wrist and say, "Bad girl. Don't do it again." Nope, Karma has to whack me down until I am cowering in the corner, whimpering and begging her to stop. Seriously. Then I get the, "What did you learn?"

I know, this has not a flippin' thing to do with writing. Doesn't always have to be about writing, though, does it? Okay, you're right. It does!

I will be nice and leave you with a little snippet here. As you all know (because I whined and protested about doing it so much) I have revised my revision of LoBR. (Legend of Black Rose) I started in the middle. So I am going to let you all have a look at what I have ripped to shreds and painstakingly have put back together. Still sort of rough, but now much more doable. So enjoy. Have a great week and a great weekend. I'll be pining away for you all as I slurp soup, swallow pudding and applesauce and waiting for the day I can crunch on solid food once more.

The cool stone floor pressed into Black Rose's cheek. His mouth was dry from being unable to breathe through his nose. He could no longer taste blood, he supposed that was a good sign. After taking a mental note of all his aches and pains, he opened his eyes. It took a moment or two of blinking to realize he wasn't blind, just darkness pressing in on him.

So Quagha Li'endrin must have tossed him down into the darkest, dirtiest pit he could find. He could taste the foul air on his tongue since his sense of smell had been compromised when the guards broke his nose. Shortly after that, they threw him into the barred carriage that would transport him to Relavia.

Rose didn't want to move. Pain made him selfish. He knew he would have to sit up eventually, but for the moment the cool, damp surface felt good. Made him ache that much more, but that is how he knew he still lived. He hurt like all hells. His stomach growled, his mouth was dry from having to breathe through it. When was the last time he had something to eat or drink?

He closed his eyes and the past few days began to replay in his mind, like a dream that refused to let go of the waking world. At first, he could see his garden. The soil had just been turned, it lay waiting and ready for him to plant the seeds that would grow under his nurturing care. His garden was his sanctuary.

He remembered his conversation with Fizanu, the goddess of Justice. Rose had been chosen to be her Champion. She had chosen him out of all the hundreds of thousands of mortals on this world. There were times, only times mind you, he wished she hadn't. He wouldn't change his life now for anything. Okay, well maybe he would change his location at the moment, but that was just geography.

He breathed in slowly, his ribs protesting at the expansion required to fill his lungs with air. The pain as he breathed in was sharp and exquisite. He recalled Fizanu telling him to travel to the small kingdom of Jenlakai. The king and queen were being held against their will until they produced their only daughter to Quagha Li'endrin, king of Relavia. Quagha wanted to unite the two kingdoms in marriage; the daughter of Jenlakai to his old, ailing cousin simply for the sake of forcing them to be allies. Not exactly a faerie tale romance.

Footsteps sounded off to the right. Rose kept his eyes closed and his breathing slow and even. Perhaps if they thought him still asleep, they'd either leave him alone or say something they wouldn't otherwise say in his waking presence. Whoever approached didn't stop. The footsteps retreated, echoing off of the stone walls and fading off to his left. Must have just been a guard walking his rounds, Rose thought to himself.

Time in a place like this was difficult to figure out. Was it daytime? Nighttime? What day was this? Rose wouldn't be able to figure it out and had already seen his fair share of men who had gone mad trying to do so. His situation reminded him of several different occasions he had been held in similar cells, just not so far underground. He let the memories come as exhaustion saturated him.